look at latin america. most latin -- south american, spanish-speaking states, south american, gain their independence in heroic struggles against spain, in the second decade of the 20th century. sorry, the 19th century. it is 200 years later and only in this generation are many of those south american countries coming to grips with the colonial hangover. now, this is junior high school physical -- junior high school physics. what happens when an external force pushes a system out of balance, keeps it out of balance, and the external force is very suddenly removed. the reaction is at least equal, to the force exerted. in a utopian universe, in which most of us still live. when you see it around the world with the brush fire conflicts, the religious struggles, the fault lines, is the world trying to reshape itself, societies, countries, entire continents, trying to find a new organic balance. what can work for them? well, the problem is, when the european empires, which ran the gamut from relatively benign, t